This article uses the work of El Mouhoub Mouhoud, Joël Oudinet and Franck Bailly to identify the new modes of migration to and through Europe. Changes in migration – more qualified migrants, reiterated migration – are a challenge for immigration and integration policies as well as for the social actors of the receiving countries. All EU-15 countries are now receiving countries, but this is new situation for several of them, and in the others national policies have different histories. Compared to the US, the European migration regime is neither stabilised nor unified.
Intra-European mobility of migrants is increasing, but it remains devoid of citizenship rights for third-country nationals. Their legal vulnerability has consequences for the operation of the labour market. Such mobility is a test for national states concerned about their sovereignty. A logical tendency would be towards the definition and effective implementation of a common EU immigration policy. Movement in this direction has started, but it is a complex process. The result of the to and fro between European Commission activism and member states’ efforts to preserve their prerogatives remains uncertain.